I'm Looking Down, So Come Help Me Up
by ExtremeSaucicity
Summary: It's not like she was planning on it, but after the craptastic week she just had, falling in love just seemed like the easiest thing to do.
1. Chapter 1

This is dedicated to the lovely and beauteous Karen, who recently had a seventeenth birthday and because I am a piece of shit, this is her belated birthday present.

Karen, you are the light of my life and I'm so sorry that this is so late. You know how much I absolutely adore you so I won't bother with an annoying and clingy author's note. I just hope you enjoy these ten thousand words of nonsense, which is only part one of two, anyway.

DO NOT ASK FOR A SEQUEL. Unless you are Karen. So, Karen, if you decide to ask for a sequel, _FUCK YOU_.

If you really want it, I suppose I could come up with something or you could just tell me what you'd want in a sequel.

(But dear God, please do not ask for a sequel. AND DO NOT ASK FOR COPIOUS AMOUNTS OF BANGING FOR A SEQUEL, DAMMIT.)

Disclaimer: Okay, one, the tire thing is totally a real thing because it _has happened to me_. Two, I do not own Austin and Ally because if I did, there would be more smooching because who doesn't love smooches? Three, I hate the word 'smooches'. Four, the title is lovingly yanked from Born Ruffian's I Need a Life. Five, this is a bit of a love letter to Jennifer Crusie's Bet Me.

Now read on, gentle readers, read on.

* * *

"Look, Ally, it just isn't working out."

Ally blinks at Daniel, boring, safe, predictable Daniel, and is mildly annoyed that _she's_ the one being dumped.

_Mondays. Aren't they always the worst?, _she can't help but think as she stares across the table at the man in the middle of breaking up with her.

On a _Monday_. During _lunch_.

Well, this is just a fan-freakin'-tastic way to start off her week.

It's not really the end of a relationship or anything. Can you call three—four, if you count this abysmal lunch, so maybe three-and-a-half—dates crammed into two weeks a relationship? No, Ally supposes, not really. But still. _Ouch._

"It's not me, though, right? Because it's you?" she asks sarcastically and with enormous bite. He seems like the total type of unimaginative bore to play that cliché. She spears a cherry tomato sitting atop her salad with gusto, imagining it as Daniel's face before shoving it into her mouth.

Daniel nods. "You're right. I just… I just don't see this lasting." He reaches across the table and puts his cool, clammy hand over hers, squeezing faintly. "Ally, I'm so sorry," he apologizes with the sincerity of a toddler promising not to sneak into the cookie jar ever again.

She takes her hand out from under his and glares at him. "Is this because I wouldn't sleep with you Friday night?" she asks with a tense smile, recalling the awkward moment when she'd kissed him good bye and then promptly shut the door in his face after dinner.

_The bastard._

Daniel freezes and his eyes widen, just long enough for Ally to notice and note _Bingo_ before he relaxes. "Ally! Don't be ridiculous!" he cries, stiff with fake indignation.

_The BASTARD_, she thinks again, even more vehemently.

She rolls her eyes and digs out a few bills from the bottom of her purse. "For the record, I'm glad I shut the door in your face," she says flatly. She throws the money onto the table and storms out of the restaurant.

Of course Daniel turns out to be another jerk that she's wasted her time on. She's angry at herself for believing otherwise and the optimism she once held is dwindling at an alarmingly fast rate. She's tired of jerks and she's tired of countless dates.

_Well, it's just Monday_, a cheery, bright voice in her head trills, _Maybe the rest of the week will start looking up._

* * *

It doesn't.

After a long, rough day at work that involved dealing with dozens of new shipments, which then involved a recount of the inventory and rearranging the displays to fit most of the new instruments, Ally wants nothing more than to go home and sleep. Her muscles are tired and aching from the lifting—her father's back pains made a convenient reappearance today—and she has a bit of a headache from having to fuss with the displays.

It had been worth it in the end, because all the instruments now look totally awesome and are beautifully displayed all around Sonic Boom, but she's just glad the day is over and she's on her way home.

And, okay, focusing on the work had taken her mind off of Daniel, so there's that plus.

Right, so, day of hard work is over, Daniel is no longer on her mind, and she's driving down that last stretch of highway this Tuesday night, eager to put on her PJs and jump into bed.

And then her car wobbles.

She frowns, tensing up slightly.

But the wobbling has stopped so she calms down a bit and continues. Besides, she's _so _close to home right now. If she can just make it into the parking lot of her apartment complex, she can call her dad, ask him to take the early shift while she checks her car the next morning, and see what needs to be done from there.

Five more minutes and she'll be home.

A minute goes by and the wobbling comes back.

She gulps nervously but stays alert, hands tensing on the steering wheel to keep as much control as she can over the car.

But then she hears a strange noise coming to her right and the smell of burning rubber reaches her nose. On top of that, the car spasms and swerves on the road, becoming near impossible to steer. She gasps in horror and knows that she can no longer ignore her car, despite being about three minutes away from home. Trying not to panic, she turns on her hazards and pulls onto the shoulder of the highway, staring longingly at the exit up ahead that will take her to her apartment complex. She turns off the engine but before she can unbuckle her seatbelt and take a look, her right tire completely falls off and rolls out into the open. Her eyes are wide as they follow the wheel rolling across the shoulder of the highway until it suddenly stops and flops over, still smoking but lifeless and dead.

Her car tire has just _exploded_.

She groans and smashes her face against the wheel, yelping when the horn inadvertently goes off.

* * *

Wednesday is not off to a great start.

During work, a hyperactive kid comes in and picks up a bunch of different things and while his mother is nice enough to put everything back, it _has completely ruined the displays_ Ally spent all of yesterday doing.

Smiling a smile that is more tight than polite, Ally just mechanically waves off all of the mother's half-hearted apologies.

Twenty minutes they spend in her beloved music store, picking things up and setting things down and rearranging damn near everything.

And not even in an artistic or creative way.

At the end of it all, the mother asks if they sell any gum or candy and actually looks annoyed when Ally politely points out that they're a music store.

_Good riddance_, Ally thinks sourly once they've left.

She's beyond relieved when her dad shows up to take over the rest of the day and she gives him a quick peck on the cheek good bye and she's off, with planned errands in mind and a grocery list written up in her bag.

She gets a ticket from a broken parking meter and a stubbed toe from kicking same parking meter while out running errands and she thinks that all she wants to do is go home and weep and die and wait until this week is over but then she remembers her empty fridge and how she really needs real food and can't live off of peanut butter and left over potato salad for the rest of her life. And she really shouldn't pay for delivery with change that she's scraped up from the bottom of her purse. Again.

So she sucks it up and goes grocery shopping.

Finally, after crossing everything off her grocery list and having trudged up all the stairs to her apartment floor—because of course, _of course,_ the elevator is under maintenance today, of all days, when she has to heave five bags full of heavy groceries up four flights of stairs—she wants to sob and sigh with happiness and relief when she sees her door in view.

_Home sweet home_, she thinks, not even one bit sarcastically, when she hears it.

A loud _RIIIIIIIIIP_. And then a bunch of dull thuds and a sickening sound of things cracking as the items in one of her bags hit the floor.

Her eyes slide shut and she groans out loud. "Universe, you are killing me right now," she states flatly as she glares at the groceries now strewn all across the empty hallway.

"Great, just freakin' great," she mumbles as she drops down to a crouch and starts picking up spilled food items. She eyes the carton of eggs at her feet disdainfully. "And knowing my stellar week, those eggs are probably toast." She sighs and opens it up and sure enough, more than half of them are cracked or entirely broken from the fall.

"Dammit!" she hisses as she starts crawling to the items further out of her reach.

In her irritation and continued muttering to herself, she misses the sound of the apartment door opening behind her.

"… best week of your life, Ally, now all you need is the random amputation of a limb."

"I don't think anybody needs a random limb amputation," an amused voice speaks up from behind.

She freezes, arm outstretched toward a bruised apple and she slowly, embarrassingly, turns her head around to see her blond neighbor staring back at her when she just so happens to be on all fours, in the middle of the empty hallway.

Of course it's her cute, young, blond male neighbor that she's waving her rear at, and none of the elderly seniors that live on her floor. Not that she thinks the elderly would have appreciated it, but yeah. Oh. Except Mr. McGucket, who's old and creepy, but mostly harmless.

Right. Her rear, it's waving in the air at her cute neighbor. She's just thankful she's in jeans today.

He raises an eyebrow at her horrified look. "Uh. Hi."

She blurts the first thing she can think of and it's an immediate, "Don't check out my ass."

Ally almost wants to shut her eyes in further embarrassment but she's had an incredibly crappy week so she just looks at him with a glare, daring him to challenge her.

To his credit, his eyes don't so much as stray from hers as he says, "Shame. I'm sure it's a fine ass."

She slowly sits back up and scuttles around until she's facing him on her knees. She holds up a hand. "Oh no. I am so not in the mood to get hit on today."

_No matter how cute you are._

"All right," he says breezily. He leans against the door jamb, all cool guy-like, and then gives her a pointed look. "But do you at least want help with your groceries?"

Her lower lip sticks out and her brows furrow. "No," she states stubbornly.

He sighs and bends down to help her, anyway.

Her face softens and she shoots him a grateful look. He nods and they continue picking up the rest of her stuff in silence, dropping the items in her other, unbroken bags. Their hands reach for the carton of messed up eggs at the same time and she withdraws her hand as their eyes meet.

"Those eggs are done for, anyway," she says with a resigned sigh.

He nods understandingly and picks them up. "I'll just throw them away, then."

She shakes her head, reaching for them. "You don't have to do that."

"It's fine," he says gently, moving them out of her reach.

And under normal circumstances, she'd insist on doing it herself but fate has dealt her an unusually crappy hand this week so she decides to just take this small, tiny win of kindness.

"Thanks." She gets up and dusts herself off and he follows suit.

"Here's your funky orange juice," he says lightly as he hands her a dented carton.

She takes it from him and gently sets it in another bag. "I happen to like funky," she says defensively.

"Funky can be good," he says, clearly only because he's trying to placate her.

And then her nose wrinkles in thought. "As long it's not being used to describe a taste or smell…" She snaps herself out of it as she notices his odd look. Her arms scoop up the bags and she meets him with a tired smile. "Right. Well, I'm just going to wallow in misery in my apartment, so if you don't mind…" She gives him a sarcastic, half-hearted salute.

He lifts an eyebrow and he looks down at the carton in his hands. "Jeez. That miserable over some broken eggs?"

"And it's a Wednesday," she adds dryly.

He eyes her carefully and then ventures, "Rough week?"

"If an anvil fell on my head, it would be the rotten cherry atop the spoiled banana sundae," she deadpans.

He chuckles and eyes her with amusement. "Hey, it's only Wednesday. Maybe your week will start to look up," he suggests with a noncommittal shrug.

She narrows an eye at him. "I used to have your blind optimism. Once upon a time ago."

This time, he laughs outright before moving back to his apartment. "Well, either way, next time I see you, I hope it's with all your limbs intact and without a serious head wound."

"No promises," she says, but there's a grin on her face—a real one, probably the first of the week.

He returns the grin and then they make it into their respective apartments.

The cheery, bright voice is back again, telling her that maybe her week's about to turn around and that tomorrow may be all right.

* * *

Thursday morning is actually not so bad. Everything from the moment she wakes up goes smoothly, even work. She has the afternoon off again, but since she ran all her errands the other day, she has nothing to do but sit at home and relax.

She considers picking up a new carton of eggs, but the prospect of going straight home and doing nothing sounds so promising.

And you know what? With how her week has started, she deserves this, dammit.

So she runs home, orders herself a pizza (and no, she doesn't feel guilty about her newly stocked fridge being ignored; she _deserves _this delicious flatbread pizza cooked in an honest-to-God wood oven that puts every other Americanized pizza to _shame_), and changes into a pair of black yoga pants and her favorite slouchy tee.

Ally settles into her couch and turns on her TV to pop in The Princess Bride and wait for her heavenly pizza from her favorite local Italian place, Café Adagio, a sort of small, hole-in-the-wall type of place. She never takes her dates there because one, she's afraid of tarnishing her favorite place with memories of awkward dates or bad boyfriends and two, she's yet to meet a guy that she thinks will appreciate the place half as much as she does.

She's smiling wistfully during the scene where Buttercup finally understands the meaning behind Westley's _As you wish_'s when there's a knock on her door. She brightens and hits pause on her remote to answer the door, money in hand for her pizza. Once she opens the door, her excited smile vanishes.

"You're not pizza," she observes, sounding sullen and confused.

Daniel raises an eyebrow. "Well, no," he agrees, before lifting a bag in his hand. "But I bought you Italian from that new place off the plaza—you know, with the TV celebrity chef—?"

"Argh!" she utters, nose crinkled with disgust. "No! Take your overly pretentious Italian food and shove it up your—"

"Ally. Please. Can we talk?" he begs pitifully.

"How about I shut this door in your face again and you can have a riveting conversation with that?" she suggests with a mock brilliant smile.

Daniel frowns, having never seen this side of her before. He fidgets uncomfortably and looks at her with caution. "Ally. I don't understand. You were so sweet when we were together. What happened?" And then his jaw drops with a quick gasp and Ally wants to cram her twenty dollar bill into it and shut the door in his face but he continues flapping his too-small mouth. "Oh, no. Oh, Ally," he whispers, eyes growing wide.

Her brows knit together and she thinks she's missed something. "Oh, _what?_" she snaps irritably.

He drops the bag, which lands with a hearth _thump_ and gathers her hands in his clammy ones. "I broke your heart, didn't I?"

Her face scrunches in displeasure. "_What?_"

Daniel nods, piecing the mismatched pieces together to form a hideous and thoroughly wrong picture. "Ally, sweetheart, darling, honey—"

"One more term of endearment, and I may have to strangle you, Daniel-_dearest_," her 'dearest' dripping with venom.

"Ally," he starts, trying to sound patient, "c'mon, be reasonable. I'm willing to give us a second chance."

"Oh, that makes a grand total of one of us," she monotones, yanking her hands away. "Look, Daniel, I'm really not in the mood for half-hearted romantic gestures, okay? I don't want you back and I definitely don't want to talk. So, there." She reaches for her door, with the intent of closing it, when his hand wraps around the wooden edge.

"Ally, I think you're being a bit hasty."

She glares up at him and shoots back, "And I think you're being a bit of a—"

"Douchenozzle?" a voice cuts in helpfully.

Daniel and Ally freeze and then turn to see her blond neighbor leaning against his door jamb again. Ignoring a strange surge of relief, she opens her mouth to tell him that she's handling the situation so he can kindly take his leave, when she's interrupted with a huffy little sigh from Daniel.

"Excuse me. I think I'm allowed to talk to my girlfriend."

Ally and the blond balk at Daniel's audacity.

"What?!"

"You're _dating_ this douchenozzle?"

"No," Ally bites out as she crosses her arms and glares menacingly at the back of Daniel's stupid head. "He dumped me. Monday. During lunch."

Her neighbor balks further and his eyebrows shoot up to hide behind his swoopy fringe. "Wait. _He _dumped _you?_"

Ally turns back to the appalled third party. "Yes. It's one of those embarrassing memories I'd like to forever repress, thank you."

He snorts and reaches up to scratch his head. "Yeah, no kidding about your rough week."

"Ally, who is this guy?" Daniel demands, finally putting his vocal cords to use again, much to her chagrin.

"My neighbor," she answers simply.

"Austin, not pleased to meet you, douchenozzle," Austin says in way of introduction.

The dark haired man frowns. "The name's _Daniel_," he glowers.

"And yet, I keep hearing 'douchenozzle'…" Austin shrugs and sends him a lazy smirk.

Ally holds up a hand and snorts quietly into it. Austin picks up on it and his smirk widens considerably. Daniel doesn't seem to find it funny, as evidenced by his offended look.

She coughs when she realizes she has both men's attention and drops her hand. "Okay, Austin, thanks for your input, but trust me when I say I can handle good ole douchenozzle over here," she beams as she jerks a thumb at her ex.

"_Hey!_" exclaims the douchenozzle, with an extra heaping of douche.

Austin looks uncertain and glances between the two. "Are you sure?" he asks.

Ally rolls her eyes. "Enough with the machismo! Yes. Daniel is harmless." She waves him off. "I'll be fine."

"I'm right here."

"I can totally kick his ass," Austin offers, completely ignoring the other male presence.

"Still. Right. Here."

Ally rolls her eyes a second time. "What did I just say about the machismo?"

Austin holds up his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, you can handle things."

Ally turns back to Daniel and says, with a polite and calm air, "I am not interested in you or your overly gelled hair, so please take your bad Italian food with you and leave. Good day."

And then she slams the door shut on him.

* * *

Halfway through her shift at work on Friday, she makes the mistake of checking her phone.

There are a half-dozen missed phone calls from douchenoz—_Daniel_.

She frowns at the phone, perplexed, and grunts in frustration as she clears the missed call history. She turns her phone off and shoves it to the bottom of her purse and slides it into the further corner under the counter and sets off to work.

At the end of the day, there are four more.

She gags dramatically and shoves her phone to the bottom of her purse once again and marches out of Sonic Boom, doing her best not to think too much about it. She gets into her car and focuses a little too hard on the road the entire drive home.

Daniel's face flashes in her mind and she feels her eye twitch and her hands tighten their grip on the steering wheel.

"Argh," she shudders as she gags again.

She turns on the radio and even though she doesn't know the song, she sings loudly and purposefully off key while making up her own lyrics. It's enough to take her mind off Daniel.

Soon enough, Ally is dragging herself up the stairs and when she rounds the corner to walk down the hall of her floor, she sees the cause of her annoyance waiting at her door with a bouquet of roses.

She doesn't know whether to laugh bitterly or cry hysterically.

"Ally!" he cries, all heart-brokenly. "Please, I made a mistake. I need you back," he begs.

"You have _got _to be kidding me," she moans, rubbing her temples in frustration. "You didn't even try this hard when we were together!"

He looks at her and somehow manages to make sincerity look smarmy and slimly. "And that's why I'm making up for it now." He holds out the roses to her.

She eyes him critically, clearly not happy with him or his response. "Too late for that, buddy," she snorts as she smacks them out of his hand. She moves to brush past him and tries to dart into her apartment but he side steps her. "Oh, c'mon! You can't be serious!" She jabs him as painfully as she can, right where his heart should be. "_I'm still not going to sleep with you!_" she bellows.

"I'm willing to wait," Daniel says hastily as he catches her wrist, wincing from her well-manicured fingernail jab.

Aggravated, she opens her mouth to yell at him some more when she feels a gentle hand on her shoulder. Her jaw clicks shut and she whirls around to see Austin glaring down at her ex.

"I don't think she's interested in your patience," Austin states calmly despite the anger radiating off him.

Ally flushes upon the realization that he must have heard her promise of celibacy toward Daniel.

"I think you should leave," Austin says.

Daniel is either too stupid or too proud to back down and says, "Look, I just want to talk to her." He turns to Ally. "Ally, c'mon, just let me into your apartment and we can talk things out," he says, trying for 'soothing' and failing spectacularly.

"Why don't you just tell her out here," Austin suggests with a shrug.

"Excuse me?" Daniel asks sharply.

Ally immediately latches onto this life line he has thrown her and grabs him by the arm. "Yeah! Anything you wanna say to me, you can say in front of my new pal, Austin!"

"Damn right!" he declares. And then they high five as they glare down Daniel and his dumb bouquet of boring old roses.

They're almost extra insulting because she remembers telling him her love of other flowers like hydrangeas and tulips and heck, even daisies. She's pretty sure her mother warned her about dating men who don't listen or pay attention so this is yet another strike against Daniel.

Boy is he losing points fast.

Daniel fidgets from foot to foot and clears his throat awkwardly as they stare him down. "You want me to tell you right here?"

"Yes." Ally rolls her eyes. "So talk, mister."

Daniel looks back and forth between the unimpressed pair and takes a deep breath before focusing his attention on the brunette. "After we broke up, I couldn't stop thinking about you."

Ally's face scrunches up in disbelief. "Really?" She sounds stunned.

He nods emphatically. "Yes! I realized that I may have been a bit hasty when I broke up with you Monday."

"Damn right you were," Austin says breezily, "she's got a fantastic ass."

Daniel turns to him sharply. "_What?_"

Ally's jaw drops and she turns to the blond, smacking him in the arm. "I can't believe you checked out my ass!" Another indignant smack to his arm. "And after I told you not to!"

"In all fairness, I did it before you told me not to. I kinda opened the door on your ass, remember?" he reminds her as he raises an eyebrow. "It was mostly accidental, promise." He shoots her a sly smirk. "Hey, look, you can check out mine and we'll call it even, since I'm such an advocate for fairness and all. I'll even walk with a little something extra."

"Oh, c'mon. Don't make me revoke your pal card," she says, exasperated. But when Austin laughs, she can't help but smile and shake her head.

Daniel bristles, looking furious. "Ally! You're just going to let him talk to you like that?"

The blond shrugs and gives him a pointed look. "You were the dumbass that let her go." His eyes narrow and he crosses his arms. "And it's not like you've made any sort of convincing argument to try to win her back, either. Frankly, I think you're just wasting her time when she could be out doing something else."

Ally chooses to keep quiet about the fact that 'something else' entails a pint of Ben and Jerry's and Netflix. "Yeah!" she agrees with a quick nod. "Something else!"

"W—wait," he stutters, " Ally! Ally, you're—you're funny, intelligent, sweet, and you have a successful career. I realize now how much of an idiot I was to have let you go." The words tumble out of his small mouth with desperation and he looks at her pleadingly.

Ally's eyes narrow suspiciously. Sure, the words were nice, but they were still coming out of _Daniel-I-happen-to-be-Miami's-biggest-douchenozzle -Mayer_'s mouth. "Go on…"

Daniel sucks in a breath and seems to relax ever so slightly. "C'mon, Ally, we're good for each other. We're both reasonable and mature adults and, let's face it, we're not getting any younger so we can't really afford to be picky," he says with a shrug.

She stares at him, appalled. "_Excuse me?_" she bellows. The men in her presence wince, one looking terrified, the other looking impressed.

The dark-haired buffoon pales and starts to shake his head, clearly trying to backtrack. "Wait, no, no, no! I meant—"

Ally takes a step forward, cheeks reddening in anger. "I'm sorry, but was your entire argument about why I should give you a second chance hinged on '_we're not getting any younger_'?"

Austin whistles quietly and turns to the other man with a smug grin. "Oh man, you're in for it now, buddy."

"Oh my _God_," Ally moans in distress, dropping her head into her hands. "Daniel, when I lift my head out of my hands you had _better not _be standing in this hallway in front me because I _will not_ be held accountable for my actions," she growls.

"Ally?" He sounds timid and frightened and Ally can't help but think _Good_, _he should be scared_.

"Just throwing this out there," Austin starts, calm and collected, "but I'd be willing to help her bury the body of a complete _fucking _moron."

"You are the best sidekick ever," she whispers out of the corner of her mouth.

"Thank you."

And then the sounds of a coward scrambling away echoes through the hall and Ally peeks between a crack through her fingers.

"Your ex is gone," Austin confirms as she continues looking through her fingers.

Ally winces and drops her hands. "Yeah, it'd be awesome if we don't refer to him as that." She runs a hand through her hair and looks at him gratefully. "I'm sorry you got involved in my—" she breaks off, unable to find a fitting word.

_Business? Affairs? Love life?_

Her nose scrunches up at her options and she just gestures vaguely in the space between them. "Involved, sorry you got involved," she says quickly.

He shakes his head. "I'm way more sorry that you got involved with that guy."

She tips her head back and pinches the bridge of her nose. "Oh God, it's too soon. Let's not talk about this any longer; I can feel a stress headache coming on," she mutters dramatically. And then she stares at him flatly and says, "Well, if you'll excuse me, I have to go make an online dating profile that says 'desperately seeking anything; douchenozzles need not apply.'"

He blinks at her. "Those are some alarmingly low standards."

"I've dated some alarmingly large douchenozzles."

Austin waits a beat and then asks, "Is that right?"

"They can't all be winners," Ally deadpans.

He leans against the wall and quirks a brow at her. "Huh."

She squints at him and crosses her arms defensively. "That was an impressive amount of judgment you managed to cram into one word."

"I'm surprised," he corrects. He gestures in her general direction and goes on to say, "You seem so… put together."

Ally forces out a laugh, fake and bitter, and cries, "_HA._ 'Put together.' That's a good one. You're hilarious." She snorts at him and points out, "You do remember that our first meeting had me crawling around on the floor after runaway apples, yes?"

He smirks a bit. "Hey, I had no complaints."

Her jaw drops a little and she flushes deeply. "I… uh…"

He laughs a little and, deciding to have some mercy, changes the topic. "So you're still having a bad week, then?"

"Yes," she says in a voice that implies that no, she doesn't want to talk about it. She just hopes he's smart enough to take the hint.

He is, because he just sighs and holds out a hand to her. "Wait here," he says quickly but before she can question him, he's already back in his apartment, leaving his door wide open.

Her brow furrows at the empty space but she waits patiently for him to come back.

A few seconds later, she finds herself staring at a carton of eggs. She blinks at them, blinks at Austin, and then the furrow in her brow deepens. "What are these for?" she asks in polite confusion as he holds them out to her.

"Because you smashed that other carton of eggs," he says simply.

Maybe it's because of her crappy week or maybe it's because of Daniel being such a witless twit and bringing her bad Italian food and roses or everything combined but now, looking at Austin holding out a carton of eggs, she feels overcome with gratitude and happiness.

Like, it's not one of those moments where the clouds are parting or angels are singing or sunlight is streaming down or anything like that, but it's pretty damn close.

And with an emotional lump in her throat and tears stinging her eyes, rushes up to throw her arms around him in a tight hug, careful not to smash the set of eggs. "_Eggs_," she breathes with all the wonder of someone who has been told the secret meaning of life. "You got me _eggs_."

He freezes, clearly not having expected this reaction. "They're not, like, _golden _eggs. You do know that, right?" he asks carefully as he slowly reaches up to pat her back awkwardly.

She laughs a little and feels him relax in her hold. She leans back and beams up at him. "Well, good. These will be much more useful. And delicious." And then she lets go to greedily snatch the carton away from him. She opens up the lid to take a peek at her precious babies and when she spots something wrong, she immediately looks up at him with an annoyed stare. "There are three eggs missing," she monotones.

He shrugs easily. "I made breakfast this morning."

Ally shuts the lid and rolls her eyes. "Typical," she mutters.

Austin chuckles at her sullen expression and moves to turn back into his apartment. "Well, try not to smash the remaining nine, all right?"

Her jaw drops a little and she bristles at him. "Are you implying something here?"

He smirks at her and she feels her eyes narrowing involuntarily. "That you've got a touch of bad luck this week and the week isn't exactly over yet."

"My apartment is _right there_," she says, jerking a thumb over her shoulder.

"And that's why it'll be incredibly sad if all nine of those eggs don't make it," he counters as his lips twitch into a smirk.

"Don't jinx me then," she snaps as she turns around to make it to her apartment.

"Wouldn't dream of it!" he calls cheerfully after her.

She rolls her eyes but doesn't bother looking back, not even when she hears the closing of his door. She shoves her key into the lock and twists the doorknob open and once she's inside, she kicks the door closed behind her.

"The _nerve _of that guy," she mumbles, throwing her keys and her purse on to her couch. "Like I'm _that _much of a klutz." The purse slumps over and falls off the couch in protest. She frowns and pauses momentarily. "Well, that's discouraging." She shakes it off and makes her way into the kitchen, eying the counter with a victorious gleam in her eyes. "Ha! Made it!" she cheers as she sets her eggs atop the counter, but unfortunately, in her eagerness and aggression, she has applied too much force and she hears a small crack.

"Oh, for the love of—"

* * *

Saturday morning is busy, with tons of foot traffic and people milling about the entire store. She zigs and zags through Sonic Boom, welcoming the hectic rush of helping potential buyers and ringing up customers. Things slow down during lunch and Ally and her father welcome the lull so they can take a break.

The busy workday has excelled in keeping her mind off of Daniel.

Until evening hits.

"Ally?"

The familiar, and yet unwelcome, voice calling her name shocks her enough to make her stumble on her way to the cash register to ring up the next person in line.

"Ally," the voice persists.

Ally steps up behind the counter, flashes a smile at the mother patiently waiting to buy a violin for her son, politely tells her to hang on just a second, and then whirls around to find her dim-witted ex. "Currently busy, Daniel," she says in as polite a voice as she can manage. She turns back to the sweet woman and begins to ring her out, engaging in friendly small talk with her and her son.

"Okay, I'll wait," he says, sounding put out.

Ally fights the urge to roll her eyes and finishes up the transaction and waves good-bye to the little boy. And then she steps behind the counter, yells at her dad to take over and latches an annoyed hand onto Daniel's arm, holding back a gag at the contact, and drags Daniel outside the store.

"Are you going on break to talk to me?" he asks hopefully.

She whirls around to face him and crosses her arms. "No," she says firmly with a shake of her head. "No, I'm not. Daniel, this is my place of _work_, you can't just show up randomly to try to win me back or whatever!" She points back to the store. "Do you see how crazy it is in there? I'm incredibly busy so you need to leave! Showing up where I live is already bad enough, but jeez, this is getting stalkery!"

His expression sours and he defensively cries out, "Well, I figured it'd be better here than at your apartment where that blond guy keeps interrupting us!"

She throws her hands up in the air in aggravation. "There _is no us!_"

"There could be!"

"You're delusional."

He shakes his head vehemently. "No, I'm not. I know things between us could work out!"

"Daniel," she says sharply, "I do not want anything between 'us' to 'work out'."

"Is it because of that guy?"

Ally frowns, suddenly thrown. "What guy?"

Daniel stares at her, long and hard. "Your neighbor," he says harshly. "That blond guy that always hangs around you."

She recoils, stunned by his suggestion, but she quickly shakes her head and recovers with a snort of disbelief. "Uh, you mean my _neighbor_ that has every right to be 'hanging around' me when I'm in the apartment complex?"

Daniel rolls his eyes. "Yeah, _him_," he spits viciously.

Ally balks at him, jaw dropping. "Oh my God, are you jealous of _Austin_, my _neighbor?_" She runs a hand over her face in exasperation. "Okay, I don't even know where to start with this amount of ridiculousness. First of all, there's nothing to be jealous of, Austin and I had our first conversation ever on Wednesday, all right? There's literally nothing going on between us. We're not even really friends!"

_But he bought you eggs_, a smug little voice reminds her, _surely that's something_. The reminder makes her pause momentarily but then she barrels on, "Secondly, even if there was, you have _no right _to be jealous! Because you _dumped _me, you jerk. And third of all, _you dumped me, you jerk!_"

"Ally, you're just playing hard to get," he sighs, reaching out and grabbing her hand.

"Oh my God, I feel like I'm going crazy," she breathes. "Am I even speaking English at this point?"

"I'm sorry, did you say something?" he asks as he brings her hand close to his lips with the intention of kissing it.

Her eyes widen and she attempts to yank her hand back before his lips could make contact. "Oh no. No. You need to stop that right now," she squeals, shaking her hand in an attempt to get rid of any and all Daniel germs.

He looks bereft, even more so when Ally starts to gag and wipe the back of her hand on her thigh. "Ally, what's wrong?"

"_This_. All of it," she says stonily as she makes a sweeping gesture encompassing his entire being.

He blinks down at himself. "What? Did I spill something somewhere?"

She turns around, stomps back into Sonic Boom and yells at her dad that she's taking a sick day. As she stomps past Daniel, she yells at him not to follow her home and makes her way for the parking lot.

She's well aware of how unprofessional this is but she thinks that smacking Daniel in the face with a drum cymbal will be even more unprofessional, so.

* * *

Ally continues to pace back and forth in front of Austin's door. This has been going on for—she checks her watch—two minutes and thirty-seven seconds now.

She takes a deep breath and stops, finding herself in a staring contest with the door.

Two minutes and thirty-nine seconds.

She can do this. It's either this or another night alone with an order of her favorite pasta—with at least two sides of bread—from Café Adagio.

At least the company will be nice.

She reaches up with a small, determined fist and knocks rapidly for a quick moment.

_Hm, I may not have entirely thought this through_.

But it's too late and Austin opens the door in record time, eyes widening slightly in surprise. But before he can greet or question her, she opens her mouth to blurt out the only defense she can come up with.

"You bought me eggs."

He doesn't so much as bat an eyelash as he replies with, "I did do that, yes."

She levels a serious stare at him. "You can't take that back." She gestures between them. "We're friends now," she states gravely.

"Because I bought you eggs?"

She nods. "Because you bought me eggs."

"I didn't know eggs were the universal sign of friendship."

"Well, you started a trend."

"Oh, good," he says casually, "I've always wanted to be a trendsetter."

Her lips twitch but she fights off a smile. "High ambitions you've got there."

He hums in agreement before finally giving in to his curiosity, if the look he gives her is anything to go by. "So… 'sup?"

"Daniel's stalking me at work now."

He raises an eyebrow. "Is that all?" he asks, baffled. "So, what? You want to talk about it or something?"

"I—" At his incredulity, she suddenly finds herself faltering. "Okay, you know what? This was a stupid idea, I'm sorry," she mumbles under her breath, cheeks reddening. "I shouldn't have bothered you." She turns around, ready to flee before she can further embarrass herself.

"Wait, hang on," Austin calls out, his fingers wrapping gently around her elbow. "It's fine if you want to talk about it," he says lightly.

She turns back around and looks at him nervously. "Are you sure? I don't want to annoy you. I mean, I'm surprised you haven't complained already because you always seem to get caught up in my crazy life." She wrinkles her nose. "It's not even that crazy. Daniel's the one making it crazy."

"You just surprised me," he says honestly. She hesitates, and his eyes soften as he tugs on her elbow a bit. "Ally, it's all right. Come on in if you want to talk about it," he murmurs with a tilt of his head.

"Okay." She still sounds hesitant, but she shoots him a grateful smile and waits for him to step aside to make her way into his apartment.

He shows her to the couch and gestures for her to sit and she does. He joins her and leans heavily against the back, making himself comfortable as he props up his feet on his coffee table.

They sit in silence for nearly a full minute as Ally avoids eye contact and tries desperately to keep from blushing.

_Yep. Definitely didn't think this through._

Austin sighs and reaches up to scratch his head. "So, uh, what happened at work?" he starts slowly.

She bites her bottom lip and her eyes flick to meet his tentatively. "Daniel showed up."

"And?" he asks curiously.

Ally throws her hands up, irritated and defeated. "I don't know! He was there, he was annoying, he tried to kiss me—"

"What?" he interjects angrily, abruptly sitting upright.

"On the hand," she says quickly, holding up her hands to reassure him. "Don't worry, it was just on the hand, and I was able to save my hand from any icky sort of kissing disease."

"Oh," he says, settling back into the couch, wriggling his shoulders to get comfortable again. "Go on," he says with a casual wave of his hand."

"He showed up, he tried to kiss my hand, I tried not to vomit, and then I left," she surmises. "He thinks I'm trying to pay 'hard to get'." She pulls at her hair in frustration. "Can you believe that?!"

"Well, yes. But only because I thought we've established that your ex is a raging idiot," Austin deadpans. When she shoots him a _you're not helping _look, he rolls his eyes and sits up to look at her. "You think he's going to stop by your apartment again?"

"I don't know," she admits with a helpless little shrug.

"You need to get out."

She stares at him, confused and hurt by his sudden suggestion. "What?"

"C'mon, get up," he orders as he rockets up off the couch and motions for her to do the same.

She stares up at him in bewilderment. "You know, you're the one that invited me in in the first place! It's rude to ki—"

"Ally!" he laughs, shaking his head. "Just get up, okay?" He grins lazily at her and holds out a hand to help her up. "I'm not kicking you out," he adds with a light roll of his eyes when all she does is stare suspiciously.

Her eyes dart to the side and come back to land on his offered hand. She quietly slips hers into his and when his grip tightens, she pulls herself up to stand next to him. "So what are we going to do then?"

His grin widens, making him look more sincere. "You'll see."

"Fine," she mutters with a small pout, not liking where this may be going. "But only because you got me eggs."

"The universal sign of friendship, right, of course." He places a light hand on the small of her back and leads her toward his front door.

She turns to glare at him over her shoulder. "Are you mocking me?" she asks as she starts to walk out of his living room.

"Wouldn't dream of it," he says, echoing his words from the other day as he gives her his most charming smile.

She sends him her _most displeased_ glare but he continues shuffling her out his apartment.

* * *

They walk side by side in silence, with Austin's hands casually in his jacket pocket and Ally frowning as they make a turn onto a street that Ally isn't quite familiar with.

"Are we almost there yet?"

"Maybe."

She bristles at his vague answer but is determined to try again. "Seriously, where are we going?"

"Out."

"Austin." She sounds weary and he takes the hint as he sighs and turns to look at her.

"Daniel keeps finding you at your apartment, so you need to stop lying low at home. Get out and stop wallowing—"

"Hey! I do not wallow!"

"—and this way, he won't be able to find you and harass you every night."

She rolls her eyes. "It's _Daniel_," she reminds him bitterly. "He'll find a way." She sighs and runs a hand through her hair before looking at him pointedly. "I can't hide out every night, you know. Eventually, I'm going to have to do something about him."

"Look, we'll worry about that later, okay? Let's just forget about him and relax the rest of the night."

She blinks at him, alarmed at his use of 'we' but before she can bring point it out to him, he taps her on the shoulder and nods ahead with a huge grin.

"We're here."

She stops and turns to look at a little store front, brightly lit from the inside. Workers behind the counter are scooping up a familiar looking dessert and plopping them into waffle cones.

"Ice cream?" she asks in delight, turning back to look at him. "You took me out for ice cream?"

He shakes his head, the beginnings of a self-satisfied smirk making its way across his lips. "Nope. Even better, I took you out for _gelato_."

"Oh my god," she breathes, a hand coming up to rest on her chest. "That's like ice cream but on _steroids_."

The smirk falters and he looks at her oddly. "Are you okay?"

She shakes her head. "No," she admits, just a tad emotional. "First, you got me eggs and now you've taken me out for gelato." She sniffles and looks at him with her large, doe eyes. "You're like the best thing that's ever happened to me."

He raises an eyebrow. "So you like food. Duly noted."

She shakes her head and sniffs again. "But it's not only that. I mean—yeah, sure, food's great but when you've got an ex-boyfriend that dumps you and then stalks you three days later, an exploding car—"

"Your car exploded?"

"Just the tire."

He looks at her, perplexed. "Oh. Right. Just the tire," he says in a voice that is more unsure than sure.

"But then the broken eggs and the funky orange juice, and it's just—" she breaks off, taking a deep, shuddering breath in a failed attempt to keep it together, "it's really nice to get some new eggs and eat gelato, you know?"

He looks at her, alarmed. "Are you going to cry?"

"_No_, I'm not going to _cry_," she protests but her eyes well up anyway and she brings a hand up to swipe at a stray tear. "That would be ridiculous and I'm anything but—but ridi-ridiculous," she stutters through a choked sob.

He looks at her helplessly for an uncomfortable moment before sucking in a breath and tugging on her elbow to lead her around the gelato establishment, into a slightly more private alleyway. "Okay, you've had a very bad week," he says in a gentle, soothing voice as he places his hands on her shoulders in an even gentler touch.

She nods pitifully. "My tire exploded," she reminds him helpfully.

He nods in agreement. "Right. Your tire exploded," he echoes patiently.

"And now my ex won't leave me alone."

Another nod. "He's a douchenozzle," he says, still using that soothing voice that is actually helping her sniffles subside.

"I don't even know why he's trying so hard," she mumbles darkly, staring at her toes. "We only went on three-and-a-half dates."

Austin blinks at her. "How do you have half a—you know what? Never mind." His grip on her shoulders tightens just enough to catch her attention so that she looks back up at him. "But you know what else?"

Her face scrunches up in thought. "Gelato is creamier and smoother than ice cream?" she tries.

He stares at her for a beat. "Yes. While that is very true, that's not exactly what I was going for," he says as encouragingly as he can.

"Oh," she frowns.

Austin sighs and leans in toward her, their foreheads almost touching. If at all possible, she stills even more under his heavy gaze. "Ally, screw Daniel—"

"He wishes," she mumbles darkly under her breath.

Austin almost chokes on a laugh, but impressively manages to keep his poker face. "Well, not literally," he clarifies with a twitch of his lips. "But seriously, screw Daniel, screw your exploding car—"

"It was just the tire."

"—screw your crappy week, and screw whatever else in your life that's going wrong. You know why? Because tonight—tonight we're going to eat gelato and have a good time and Daniel won't be around and if he does end up showing his ugly mug around you, I will _punch him in the throat_."

She huffs out a little laugh. "I don't really condone violence, but that sounds amazing."

"Maybe he'll fall down and end up in fetal position." There's a childlike enthusiasm to his suggestion and she grins to herself.

"Oh God! Don't get my hopes up like that," she says, in the same huffy little laugh like before.

He chuckles before his eyes sweep back and forth across her face, silently asking her if she's all right. She nods silently and squares her shoulders, making him release his hold reluctantly. He straightens up and takes a step back to give her a little room and some air.

There's still a flicker of worry in his dark, brown eyes and she grins at him reassuringly. "I'm fine. Emotional crisis averted, so let's just grab some gelato."

He looks at her, still unsure. "Yeah?"

She squares her shoulders a little and something akin to affection flickers in his eyes, replacing the worry, and she stands up to her full height. "I am ready for gelato," she says with the gravitas of a soldier preparing for war.

Austin laughs and shoves his hands in his pockets and gestures with a jerk of his head. "C'mon," he grins, "I'll get you a waffle cone and everything."

Her eyes light up and she bops around after him in glee. "A waffle cone?" And then his offer to pay sinks in. "Wait," she suddenly frowns, "you don't have—"

"Ally, either let me pay or I'll tell Daniel all about how you really do want him back," he threatens, glaring at her.

Her jaw snaps shut with an audible click. And then she scowls while he looks at her victoriously. "That's just low," she mumbles.

Austin slings an arm her shoulder and marches her into the gelato establishment—adorably named_ Gelato Grotto_, to Ally's utter delight—and nonchalantly says, "But it worked."

Ally ignores him so she can take in all the different flavors of the colorful, creamy dessert.

"This is the most beautiful thing I've seen all week," she whispers in awe.

Austin nudges her, saying, "Well, come on! Pick out any flavor you want."

"I need a moment!" she stage-whispers, biting her lip in anticipation as she delicately makes her way up to the glass display. As she reads all the different flavors off the little labels, her jaw drops lightly in wonder.

"Be careful, you may be drooling," he teases lightly.

Her jaw snaps shut but she taps a finger excitedly against the glass when a flavor catches her eye. "That one!" she exclaims.

He leans closer, eyes following her finger. "The butter pecan?" His nose wrinkles in distaste. "That's an old lady flavor!" But before she can defend her choice or change her mind, he smiles at the worker coming up to them from behind the counter and politely orders, "She'll have the butter pecan and I'll the chocolate turtle. Oh! And both in the largest waffle cones you've got, thanks."

She nods and goes about scooping out the gelato flavors.

"Austin! I'm not going to be able to eat all that," she frowns.

He smirks excitedly. "Then more for me!"

"I thought you said butter pecan was an old lady flavor."

"It's still gelato," he reminds her with a scoff.

She rolls her eyes but follows him as he makes his way down the line, toward the register. He pays for the cones and gently wraps a napkin around the cone before handing Ally hers. She takes it gratefully, uttering a soft, "Thanks."

He grins and they exit _Gelato Grotto_ to make their way back to their apartments.

"Oh my gosh, this is _amazing_," she enthuses after taking her first bite.

He pauses in the middle of licking his own cone. "You've had gelato before, right?" he asks suspiciously.

"Of course I have!" she says with a wave of her hand. "But it's been a while, I didn't know there was one so close to us. I thought the nearest one was about twenty minutes out on the plaza or whatever." She hums appreciatively when she takes another bite of the cold dessert.

Austin grimaces. "That place isn't nearly as good as the grotto."

Ally nods enthusiastically. "I completely agree." She stares at him, impressed. "I honestly can't believe I've never been here before. I don't know how I missed it."

"You've got to go to obscure, hole-in-the-wall type of places for all the best stuff," he says with a knowing smirk.

She thinks about her favorite Italian place. "I couldn't agree more," she says softly.

"Yeah, like, there's this Italian place a few blocks over that's awesome," he begins casually as he licks up some more gelato. "It's called Café Adagio."

Ally's eyes bulge out of their sockets and she nearly chokes on the piece of waffle cone she'd just bitten off. "Y—yeah?" she manages painfully, trying to keep from hacking unattractively.

Austin nods confidently. "Best pasta around and the tiramisu is amazing."

He wasn't lying. She's had the tiramisu, it _is_ amazing.

An image of the two of them sharing the tiramisu assaults her and she feels something stirring in her stomach.

_Uh-oh._

But the stirring is faint and luckily it stopped before she needed to tell it to.

He stops and turns to her, his tongue flicking out of the corner of his mouth to swipe at a spot of gelato before grinning widely at her. "I can take you sometime if you want," he says with a casual shrug.

Ally's tongue stills in her mouth. Café Adagio is her favorite place and she's never once wanted to share it with any of her past boyfriends so the prospect of going with Austin should be an easy one but she finds herself hesitating. "Um…" She swallows nervously.

He raises an eyebrow at her. "Well?" he presses as he continues to lazily lick at his cone so the melting gelato doesn't start to trail down his hand.

"Uh, I've been there before, actually," she mutters quietly.

His grin widens. "Then you already know how amazing the food is!" he enthuses. "So it's decided, we'll go tomorrow night."

Ally wants to point out that _no_, technically _nothing _has been decided but then she finds herself sort of fascinated by his boyish grin and there's a flurry of butterflies fluttering in her stomach that _won't stop _this time around and she barely has time to mutter, "Oh _crap_," before it started.

"What was that?" Austin asks as he turns around to look at her, a piece of waffle cone sticking out between his lips.

"Nothing," she mutters, avoiding his gaze. She clears her throat a little and looks him in the eye. "I didn't actually agree to dinner tomorrow night, you know," she points out.

He frowns, tilting his head at her. "You don't want to go? What? You think I'm bad company?" he teases lightly.

"N—no, it's not that," she stutters, suddenly red in the face.

Her treacherous mind imagines them sharing the tiramisu again, but the details of the restaurant are clearer and he's grinning at her with that boyish grin and it's all _so real_ and she can nearly taste the tiramisu and—

Oh God. She wants this. She _wants_ to share her favorite place and all her favorite dishes and her favorite dessert and whatever else with this guy. She's never felt compelled to have a shared experience with another man at Café Adagio until this moment, apparently.

Great. Eggs, gelato, and now dinner. Dinner at her _favorite place_, no less.

The guy wasn't even trying and he's basically got her, hook, line, and sinker.

"Well?" he presses after a while. His smirk makes a reappearance and he leans in close. "You got something better to do tomorrow night?" he challenges.

"Does a date with Netflix count?" she asks weakly with a visible wince.

He shakes his head slowly, the smirk never once taking a break.

"Then I suppose I'm all yours for the night." His eyebrows jump in interest and horror flashes across her features as she realizes her poor choice of words. "Oh my God, I didn't mean—not like that—clearly, I'm not _yours_, you can't—you can't _own _a person—and that came out _way _more sexual than I was intending and you know what? I'm just going to shut up and stuff my face with gelato." Her cheeks burn in embarrassment and despite the massive bite of gelato, she still feels hot and warm all over.

Austin manages to keep a straight face as he says, "So, tomorrow at seven?"

She nods into her cone. "I promise I'm not always this awkward." She looks up at him and winces.

A bit of a stretch as she quickly recalls some of their previous encounters this week.

He shakes his head and grins at her. "Keep the awkward, I like it."

She gives him a wry smile. "Good, it's sort of a package deal," she mutters as she gestures along the length of her body.

He laughs and with a jerk of his head, they begin walking again toward their apartment building again. "C'mon, we're almost there. I'd like to finish my gelato before it melts everywhere." He stares at a trail dripping down the back of his hand pointedly before licking it up.

She grins and hurries along to catch up.

They chatter amiably the rest of the way but when they step foot in the elevator, Austin leans over to wrap his large hand around her small wrist, dragging her cone away.

Her head falls forward, her tongue trying to follow her gelato before she realizes what he's doing. "H—hey!"

"Relax," he says breezily, "I just want a bite."

Her eyes dart to their joined hands and then back to his. "Um, okay," she murmurs softly, fighting back a small blush.

She lets him gently tug her wrist up, so he can take a small bite of her butter pecan gelato. "Not bad," he muses after swallowing.

"See, old ladies have good taste," she laughs.

He gently lets go of her wrist and asks, "You wanna try mine?" and thrusts his own cone in front of her, albeit too enthusiastically and it bumps her nose. "Oops," he laughs sheepishly when she nearly goes cross-eyed to look at the smear of chocolate turtle across her nose.

"Thanks," she says sarcastically as she moves to unwrap the napkin around her cone.

"Uh, here, let me get it," Austin says as he takes his own napkin. She looks at him wearily and he sighs apologetically. "It's my fault! Just let me get it," he insists as he waves the napkin back and forth under her nose.

"Oh, all right," she concedes as she tips her head forward so he can clean her up.

"There! All clean," he grins as he boops her on the nose just before they step out of the lift.

Her brow furrows and she glares up at him. Then she swipes her cone across the tip of his nose and deadpans, "Boop."

He blinks at her for a moment and then thumbs his nose clean. "Touché," he says as he licks his thumb.

She bites back a grin as they step off the elevator and she hold out a hand. "Let me have a bite."

Austin hands over his cone and watches as she takes a small, careful bite. "So? What do you think?"

"Delicious," she laughs with a nod of approval as she hands back his waffle cone.

He grins and takes it back from her. "You're doing a pretty good job on that cone so far," he says as he takes in her half-eaten cone.

She sighs and pats her stomach. "I think I'm slowing down, though."

He snorts and looks at her, unimpressed. "Wimp."

Ally frowns and turns away from him. "I was going to offer you the rest of my cone but now…" she trails off tauntingly.

He shakes his head. "That's probably for the best." He eyes flicker back and forth between their cones guiltily. "I shouldn't be binge-eating too much gelato, anyway," he sighs.

She laughs a little and shrugs. "It's your call."

He grins and gestures at his apartment. "Well, I suppose this is my stop."

She nods, moving towards her own door. "Thanks, Austin, for the gelato," she says with a soft smile. "It really made my day."

"No problem," he murmurs sincerely.

And then he looks at her, with something akin to adoration but she refuses to think that, to let herself believe that. She blinks and it's gone, replaced with his lazy smirk as he studies her.

_Yep. Knew I was imagining that._

Austin's hand pauses on his doorknob. "So I'll see you tomorrow at seven?"

She flushes and nods once. "I'll be here," she answers with an awkward little wave before she inserts her key and unlocks her door.

His look softens into a boyish grin. "Can't wait."

She ducks her head and sends him a shy smile before stepping inside and closing her door all the way. Her eyes drift shut as an overwhelming case of butterflies begin to stir up again. She frowns, glaring down at her stomach.

"This again?"

Her mind flashes back to his boyish charm and the fluttering in her stomach nearly doubles.

"Okay, seriously. You really need to stop that."


	2. Chapter 2

Once more, to the fabulous Karen, or as you guys know her, Miss-Rainy-Skies, the superb author of the utterly flawless Damage Control. It has, sadly, come to an end now so go read it right now if you haven't. This little ditty can wait.

* * *

So, Sunday.

Today's the day; her _dinner_ at Café Adagio's with Austin at 7:00 sharp.

And then her heart does this thing where it skips a beat and she nearly walks straight into the counter because she's nervous.

This has pretty much been going on all day. A little bit of work and then a whole lot of stressing over Austin and _dinner_.

"Oh God," she mutters, placing a hand over her chest.

She can't quite remember the last time she was this nervous for _dinner_.

Ally refuses to call it a date— and she really needs to stop putting such a weird amount of emphasis on 'dinner'—because there are a myriad of reasons why this can_not_ be deemed a date. One, she still has Daniel constantly hounding her with _go__dawful _romantic overtures. Really, her plate is full enough from that alone. Two, Austin is just her good looking, friendly neighbor-guy and this thing is wholly platonic. Three, even if, by some bizarre, random happenstance that he w_anted _this to be a date, she has this distinct feeling that he would have just owned up to it when he asked her.

Besides, Austin doesn't exactly strike her as 'shy', so tricking her into a date doesn't seem like it would be his M.O.

"Dinner," she mutters to herself as she starts going through the nightly routine of closing down the store. "It's just dinner. I can do dinner. You just pick up your fork, put the food in your mouth, chew, and then swallow." She pauses, mentally going over her step by step procedure.

"Note to self: Put food on fork first…"

Having to remind herself to put food on her fork during dinner; yes, tonight already looks incredibly promising.

Huh. Okay, so maybe she's more nervous than she cares to admit, but at least there was no weird emphasis that time. Maybe she can handle this after all.

And then Austin's charming grin flashes in her mind's eye and her stomach lurches a little.

Or not. It's a toss-up, really.

* * *

Ally takes one final look at her outfit in the mirror—a pair of dark wash skinny jeans and a pale yellow blouse—and decides that she isn't going to change anymore.

She eyes the previous four outfits strewn across her bed and her floor with guilt and embarrassment. Two of them were discarded because they were too formal, a third because it was just horribly put together, and the fourth because she was hanging out with a friend, not slumming it in her apartment.

She checks her clock and sees that she has about fifteen minutes left and she runs a hand through her hair, thinking about what she can do help pass the time.

Ally eyes the mess in her room resignedly and decides to start putting her closet back together. She's in the middle of hanging up the second dress when there's a knock at her door.

She inhales and exhales to calm her nerve and quickly hangs up the dress and hurries to the door, excited and anxious about eating with Austin. Idly, she wonders what his favorite meal from Café Adagio is; she knows he's a fan of the pasta, but she has a soft spot for their pizza.

She opens the door, beaming just a touch too widely out of nerves. "Hey! You're ear—" she stops mid-sentence, eyes growing wide. "Oh my God. Please don't do this now," she begs, her heart sinking at the sight of Daniel with another bouquet of roses.

"Good! You're home!" He thrusts the flowers right under her nose and she gets a big nice whiff of the roses, which—having mixed with Daniel's cologne—smells less than delectable.

"Oh, ew, Daniel," she mutters exasperatedly as she turns her head and pushes them away.

Daniel manages to appear sheepish as he lowers his arm. "I'm sorry about yesterday," he says softly. "I shouldn't have shown up at your work and I'm sorry. Really, I am. I clearly upset you and that's why I decided to give you some space."

Ally eyes the lack of space between them, especially with his looming figure, and gives him a dry look. "Really? I hadn't noticed," she says sarcastically.

He takes a deep breath and then exhales tiredly. "Ally, I'm really trying here. I just—I miss you. Being with you was easy. You were sweet and kind and you never complained or nagged or picked fights with me." He looks at her sadly. "I just—I made a mistake, Ally. And I'm sorry."

Ally stares back, shocked, as she tries to absorb what must have been the most sincere sounding thing Daniel's said this entire week. "Daniel, I—" And then shakes her head and places a gentle hand on his arm. "Look, I'm flattered," she begins sincerely, "but I have to be honest—and oh my _God_, what are you _doing?!_" she screeches as she ducks her head and holds out her arm, her hand flush against his chest to keep him away from her.

He freezes mid-lunge at her, with his head angled toward hers. "I was going to kiss you."

"_Why?_" she demands, equal parts horrified and exasperated.

Daniel frowns and stares at her thoughtfully. "I misread this moment, didn't I?"

"Ya think?" she asks flatly with lowered brows, irritation coloring her voice.

And then they're at an awkward stand still for an uncomfortably long moment until they hear a door opening.

"Oh, great. Douchenozzle's here, just like old times," Austin says sarcastically as he exits his apartment. He eyes Ally with her arm braced in front of her, holding off Daniel and his dumb roses. He raises an eyebrow. "I'm not interrupting, am I?" his voice is light and joking, but Ally can see that his eyes are full of concern, silently asking if he needs to step in.

Ally shakes her head frantically and gives him an exasperated look. "Oh, no. Trust me, you're not interr—"

"Yes! You _are _interrupting! You're _always _interrupting!" Daniel snaps, whirling around to face Austin. His eyes narrow and his features contort in a manner that Ally thinks is supposed to be threatening but really just comes off like he is severely, _painfully_ constipated.

May the Lord have mercy on his soul if he ever found himself in a fist fight.

Austin stares back at him, bored and unimpressed. "I can't help it if I like to watch," he deadpans. Ally's eyes widen and she chokes back a laugh. Austin's eyes flicker over to hers and a corner of his lips twitch into a small, lopsided smile. When they flick back to Daniel's, the corner drops and he resumes his previous expression.

Daniel's face reddens in anger and Ally can almost see the steam blowing out of his ears. Sadly, he's still about as threatening as a shaking Chihuahua peeing itself. Which, needless to say, is not very. "Why are you always around her?" he demands in a bellowing voice. "Are you some sort of stalker?"

Austin gives him an _are you shitting me?_ look and scoffs, "Dude. Do you hear yourself right now?"

Oblivious to his own stalking habits, he blinks and says, "What do you mean?"

Austin rolls his eyes and states, very slowly and very clearly, "I live here." He lifts an eyebrow. "It might be a strange concept for you to grasp, but Ally and I—" he pauses, gesturing between him and the brunette "—are what you call '_neighbors_' because we live in close proximity to each other. It makes sense for me to be here." And then he narrows his eyes and Ally can't help but think _Now _that's_ how you do it! _"But I can't seem to find a valid reason for_ you_ to be hanging around her all the time."

Daniel bristles and glowers at Austin. "I told you! I'm her boy—"

"Ex," Austin and Ally chorus simultaneously, both sounding equally exasperated.

"—friend!"

"_EX_," the repeat, louder than before.

"Oh, for the love of—" she mutters in irritation as she pinches the bridge of her nose. She inhales and exhales quickly and levels a stern glare at him. "Daniel. I _do not_ have time for this. We made dinner plans at seven and we don't want to be late."

"We did?" He looks at her hopefully.

"Not with _you_, you dolt!" she cries incredulously as she stares at him in disgust.

Austin snorts at Daniel's crestfallen look.

"Well, then, who is it?" he asks in confusion. "Who's this 'we' you're talking about?" he demands indignantly.

Austin's face lights up with a much-too-pleased smirk and he saunters to Ally's side and swings an arm around her shoulders as he points at their bodies with both his forefingers. "BOOM," he says smugly.

Daniel appears stunned and Ally wants to face palm. Between Austin's smug, gloating smirk and Daniel's jaw flapping uselessly in the wind, she feels a cluster headache coming on.

"You can't be serious," Daniel says hoarsely, his face paling slightly as his eyes dart wildly back and forth between the pair. "You're—you're going _out_ with him?"

Austin frowns, not liking his incredulous tone. "I happen to be excellent company, _pal_," he says, sarcasm and venom dripping off of the 'pal'.

"The two… the two of you?" he asks, horrified. He turns to Ally. "Is this true?"

Ally nods and then pries Austin's arm off her. "Yes, it is," she grounds out, beyond irritated.

Daniel takes a dramatic step backwards and clutches at his chest, his face twisting in hurt and disappointment. He turns his sad, woeful eyes to Ally. "Ally… him? Really? You're replacing me with _him?_"

Her face scrunches up thoughtfully. She's not really trying to _replace_ him with Austin, per say, because that would imply that Austin was becoming her new boyfriend. "Well, I'm not—"

Daniel interrupts with an overly dramatic sigh and runs a hand through his slicked-back hair. Not a single strand moves out of place and Ally can't help but think _Yuck_. "You really don't think this is going to work out between us, do you?"

He actually has the audacity to fake complete and utter heartbreak in his voice and Ally rolls her eyes so hard, she doesn't even mind the risk of them falling out of her head. But then his words sink in and a little flutter of hope starts in her chest because maybe, _finally_, he's _gotten a hint._

"Yes!" she says, nearly cheering. "Yes, I _do not_ think this is going to work out. I don't think this is _ever_ going to work out."

Daniel hangs his head and sighs dejectedly. "Well, if you ever change your mind—"

"Which I won't."

"—you have my number, so—"

"Hm, I should really block that."

"—I suppose I'll just take my leave, then."

"It only took you _forever_, but okay." And then she makes shooing noises, accompanied with matching hand gestures at him.

He turns to Austin and half-heartedly says, "You, you take good care of her."

Austin nods and salutes him. "Aye, aye, capt'n."

He lets out another pathetic little sigh and if possible, hangs his head even lower as he shuffles away. "Bye, Ally, I'll always miss you," he throws over his shoulder, his voice wavering from the emotion; the emotion of what, Ally isn't entirely sure of.

They watch him go and as he rounds the corner, Austin lets out a low whistle. He turns to her, clearly impressed. "You heartbreaker," he accuses slyly.

She flushes. "That's not an applicable nickname," she mutters, trying to brush him off.

He shakes his head, his smirk widening, his eyes glimmering with laughter. "You broke his heart." He swoons unsteadily on the spot and clutches a hand over his heart. "You gonna break mine, too?"

"I did not!" Ally protests. She frowns and crosses her arms. "You do remember that he's the one that dumped me in the first place, right?"

He stops his swooning and gives her a pointed stare and makes circles with his forefinger next to his head. "So he had a case of the crazies, doesn't mean that he didn't honestly want you back and that you broke his heart."

Her brow furrows. "You really think he actually wanted me back?" she sounds skeptical as she eyes him wearily.

"Maybe. Who knows?" Austin shrugs. When she continues to look unconvinced, he rolls his eyes. "Jeez, Ally, it's really not that hard to believe. You're adorable, you're funny, and you're interesting to be around. It's not that much of a stretch, you know," he says as he raises an eyebrow at her.

Ally's eyes widen in surprise, not expecting his sincere compliments. "Um, well, thanks, Austin."

"But either way, you're better off without him," he says softly.

The corner of her lips quirks into a small smile. "That's true," she murmurs.

"I'm glad you didn't take him back," he says.

Ally gives him a look. "I have way too much self-respect for that."

He grins at her, full of boyish charm. "Well, that is another good trait to add to your already shining personality."

She laughs and gestures ahead. "So are you ready to go?"

Austin nods. "Oh yeah, I'm starved," he says as he offers her his arm.

She forgets to hesitate and loops her arm through his but can't bring herself to care when he glances down at her happily. She feels a smile tugging at her lips and she ducks her head to hide her blush.

She's not even mad that the butterflies decide to make a reappearance because as she focuses on the warmth radiating off Austin, she can't help but think _This is nice_ and after her crappy week, she deserves nice.

* * *

The walk to the restaurant had put Ally at ease. The conversation was light and casual, with Ally talking about her slow day at work and Austin listening attentively.

It was oddly comfortable, even familiar-feeling. But now that they're sitting in the cozy little restaurant with the dim lighting and the homey—but not tacky—décor, she feels nervous.

Luckily, the waiter comes by and the routine of ordering and waiting helps to ease her nerves. Austin's friendless and the easy atmosphere helps, too, as they lapse into another comfortable conversation. And before they know it, their orders are placed in front of them, both having ordered different pasta dishes.

After the waiter walks away, Austin looks up from his plate and says, "So can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure," Ally replies absently, twirling some pasta onto a fork. She's glad to have remembered this important step from her pep talk this morning.

"It may be a bit personal," he warns as he picks up his own fork.

"Uh-huh," she says, still too focused on the food in front of her as she brings the forkful of food into her mouth.

"So how come you never slept with Daniel?"

She can't even savor the taste of the pasta in front of her because she's too busy choking and sputtering from Austin's question. "What?" she coughs with bulging eyes, immediately reaching for her glass of water.

"Hey, I warned you that it was personal," he says defensively when he sees her glaring at him from over her water cup. He does send her an apologetic glance right after, though. "Sorry. You don't have to answer, you know. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," he adds with a wince.

She gulps down the water greedily and thumps herself on the chest. "No, it's fine," she croaks, her face red with embarrassment due to his question and her choking fit. She cringes at the sound of her own voice and takes another long drink of water. "Um. Why do you want to know?" she asks in her normal voice.

Austin shrugs. "It's none of my business—"

"You're not wrong there," she says with a raised eyebrow.

"—and while I'm glad you didn't, I'm still curious."

She frowns thoughtfully. "You're glad I didn't?"

He nods and says matter-of-factly, "Again, none of my business if you had, but he was an asshole that didn't even seem like he'd be any good in the sack."

"What makes you think that?" she asks, fascinated.

"He was selfish, impatient, and never paid attention to what you were saying." He gives her a hard look. "Now imagine being in bed with a selfish idiot with no patience that can't even pay attention to what you want or what you like," he drawls.

Ally flushes a deep red. "Oh," is the only thing that she can think to say.

"If he was at least a memorable lay, I'd understand. But a shitty personality and a shitty lover? Nobody wins there."

Ally can't help but laugh. "Yeah, okay, you've got a point there," she concedes with a small smile. She wrinkles her nose in thought. "I don't know why I didn't sleep with him. The timing never seemed right, I guess?" she says with a helpless shrug of her shoulders.

Austin raises an eyebrow. "Timing?" he echoes before shaking his head. "Nah, I don't think that was the issue between you two."

She furrows her brow. "What do you mean?"

Austin rolls his eyes. "Okay, let's say you two managed to somehow make it to six months. Imagine that for just a second."

She stares at him, expressionless. "Austin, there is a beautiful dinner in front of me and it'd be a shame to lose my appetite," she states flatly.

"Just imagine it!" he insists with a small chuckle. "Close your eyes."

She gives him an odd look. "I can imagine things without clos—"

"Close them!"

With an impatient sigh, her eyes flutter closed.

"Now imagine this," he starts in a low, soothing sort of voice. "You, your beloved douchenozzle, and your six month anniversary. Oh, look, he even got you _another_ bouquet of roses, imagine that! And a pair of ugly-ass diamond earrings that are tacky and age you eighty-something years."

She cringes but gives a slow nod. "Yeah, I'm imagining it."

"So tell me honestly, would you sleep with him because you wanted to or because you felt obligated to?"

Her eyes fly open and she fixes him with a pointed look. "I think we both know the answer to that."

"You wanna know what I think the problem was?" Austin smirks and stares at her knowingly as he leans over the already small table to close some of the gap between them. "I don't think he ever made you feel hot."

Her eyes widen and she almost chokes again, this time on her own spit. "_Excuse me?_" she sputters.

He leans back and looks at her, amused. "Don't look so scandalized," he chastises. "_Hot_," he repeats. Her expression of wide-eyed horror doesn't let up and he rolls his eyes. "You know, heat, passion. Hell, I'd be surprised if he even managed to get you _excited_."

She swallows and notes the spark in his eye, the wolfish smirk on his face, the confidence exuding from him. "Uh," she stutters dumbly.

"Was he a bad kisser?"

Ally's answer is in her blush and silence.

Austin points his fork at her. "You deserve excitement."

Her eyebrows jump up. "Do I?" she mumbles, dazed, as she refocuses on the food in front of her.

"Everyone deserves some excitement," he says with a casual shrug. He takes his first bite of food and groans. "Damn, this is good," he mutters, now directing all his attention to the food in front of him.

She hums in agreement and takes her fork to her food, almost wanting to ask him if he thinks he could give her the excitement he thinks she deserves. She quickly stuffs that question down with a forkful of delicious pasta, though.

* * *

"Oh my God, I can't remember the last time I ate that much," Ally moans during their walk back to the apartments. "Good call on getting our own orders of tiramisu, by the way."

He snorts. "That stuff is way too good to share."

"Very true," she agrees with a giggle.

Austin chuckles. "It was impressive, how much you ate."

She winces. "Sometimes I forget about manners when you put good food in front of me," she admits sheepishly.

He shrugs. "I don't have a problem with that. Besides, you were kind of cute while you were eating." And then he puffs out his cheeks, bring up his hands to mime holding something next to his cheeks. "Just like a little chipmunk."

"The compliment every girl is dying to hear," she deadpans. "Thank you."

His cheeks deflate and he laughs. "You're very welcome," he shoots back jokingly.

After a moment of comfortable silence, Ally speaks up again.

"Hey, I don't think I've mentioned this before, but thanks."

"What? For paying to feed your insatiable appetite?" he asks as he pokes at her belly playfully.

"Ha ha," she laughs sarcastically as she bats his hand away. "And I _tried_ to pay my portion of the check," she reminds him in annoyance.

Austin shakes his head. "Nope, I invited you out and took you to dinner."

She rolls her eyes and clears her throat. "Anyway, I wanted to thank you for cheering me up this week."

Austin blinks, surprised by her gratitude. He drops the playful attitude and looks at her softly. "You don't have to thank me," he insists.

Ally shakes her head in disagreement. "No, I do. You cheered me up, kept me company, and took me out when I was having such an awful week." She gives him a small smile. "If it weren't for you, I'd probably still be at home, pathetically bemoaning my life."

The corners of his lips quirk upward and he adds, cheekily, "Don't forget the eggs, the universal sign of friendship."

She grins back up at him. "I know. You supplied me with breakfast all week."

He shrugs nonchalantly. "What can I say, I'm a perfect gentleman," he brags.

"And so modest, to boot," she adds dryly as they make their way through the lobby and into an elevator.

He chuckles at her and presses the appropriate number for their floor. "I try."

She rolls her eyes and socks him in the shoulder. When he dramatically leans toward the wall for support, feigning a wound to the shoulder, she can't help but laugh at his theatrics. Austin grins at the sound and straightens up only when the elevator doors open up on their floor. He gestures for her to exit first, following after. Pretty soon, they're in the middle of the hallway, their backs to their respective apartments.

The first uncomfortable silence of the night and Ally is mildly afraid she'll start sweating soon if this goes on any longer.

"I had a good time!" she blurts, immediately wincing afterward. She smacks her forehead and stares intently at her shoes. "I honestly meant for that to go smoother."

He tilts his head and regards her carefully. "You know, I have this feeling that you and smooth don't necessarily belong in the same sentence." She chances a glance at him as his lips twitch upwards into a smile and suddenly, he's looking at her with what she hopes is affection, but thinks that may be too good to be true.

She winces and sends him a guilty look. "You got me," says with a resigned sigh.

Austin laughs, but it's fond and warm and she feels herself smiling at the sound. "Well, I'm glad you had a good time," he murmurs. "I had a good time, too," he adds, giving her a lopsided grin.

"Thanks, again, for being there for me this week," she murmurs.

"Hey, any time, alright?" he says softly.

She looks up at him hopefully. "Promise?"

"Promise," he says with a curt nod and she can practically hear the conviction in his voice for miles.

Ally closes the gap between them and throws her arms around him in a hug. "I wasn't kidding when I said you were the best thing that's happened to me," she murmurs.

Austin chuckles and returns the hug. "You're only saying that because I keep feeding you," he teases. But he buries his nose in her hair and they stay like that for what is quickly becoming the world's longest hug. Top contender for it, anyway.

Finally, she reluctantly pulls back far enough to look at him. She means to thank him one last time before pulling away completely for the night, but the unreadable look in his eyes makes her stop. She swallows nervously when he brings up a hand to brush aside a stray hair from her cheek before resting there. Her eyes dart to his hand and then back up to his eyes.

"Austin…?" she whispers hoarsely.

And then his eyes widen and his hand drops and the spell is over.

The spell is over and she hates herself for breaking it in the first place.

Austin takes a step back, forcing her to drop her arms. "Sorry," he says gruffly.

She hesitates and reaches out with a hand before thinking better of it and brings it to her chest, instead. "Are—are you okay?" she asks meekly.

"Yeah! Yeah," he says in the same gruff voice. He waves a hand at her dismissively and plasters on a grin she's never seen on him before.

She's never seen it before because it's the fakest grin ever. Her brow furrows and she takes another step toward him. "Aus—?"

"Night, Ally," he says briskly and then turns his back on her. She doesn't say a word and continues staring at his back and soon after, his closed apartment door.

She feels hurt and wonders what went wrong and why he's shutting her out like this.

But you wanna know something really stupid?

For a split second there, she really thought he was going to kiss her.

* * *

And yet another Monday comes 'round.

She sighs and wonders how so much could have happened in one week: Daniel dumping her and then wanting her again, having one of the worst weeks she's had in a long time, meeting Austin, becoming friends with Austin, and her personal favorite, developing a butterfly-inducing _something_ on Austin.

(A treacherous whisper in the back of her head snidely tells her it's called a crush, but she shushes it.)

And that's before she even factors in the confusion after last night's dinner.

Needless to say, she's a little distracted for the rest of the day at work.

* * *

After work, she finds herself pacing in front of Austin's apartment again, just like—hell, it hasn't even been a week since the last time.

But she _needs _to know about last night and whether dinner was supposed to have been a date or not. Austin's right; she needs some excitement and this time, she's going to seize it for herself.

Or at least try to, anyway.

With a huff, she stops her pacing and determinedly squares her shoulders. She brings her white-knuckled fist up to knock mightily on his door.

Well, that was the plan, but they come out as two dainty raps and she quickly spins around and tries to run back into her apartment, deciding to tell her need for excitement to go screw itself.

Sadly, she's not fast enough because she hears the door open up behind her.

"Ally?" Austin calls curiously.

Her shoulders hunch over in a dramatic cringe before she turns around to meet Austin's confused stare. "Hey," she says weakly, averting her eyes.

"Did you just try to play ding-dong-ditch?" he asks humorously, an eyebrow quirking upward as he regards her.

"Well, you don't really have a doorbell, so it's more like knock-knock-ditch…" she coughs awkwardly and wow, she really wishes she had a better brain-to-mouth filter.

Austin nods, trying to hold back a chuckle as he looks at her oddly. "Is this a newly discovered hobby of yours?"

She quickly shakes her head. "No, it isn't," she assures him.

"Well, good. Your juvenile days should be long gone by now," he laughs. "So what's up?" he asks, grinning at her.

She smiles, glad that the initial weirdness from last night seems to have dissipated between them. Too bad she's about to ruin it in about two seconds.

Ally opens her mouth and then closes it. She inhales deeply and rushes out, "I wanted to talk about last night."

His eyes widen and the easy-going grin on his face slips just a fraction. "Last night?" he echoes, sounding surprised.

Ally can feel her stomach sinking but she soldiers on. "Yeah," she says, trying to keep her voice casual.

"Um, okay," he says slowly. "What about last night?"

She takes another deep breath and squares her shoulders. "Was last night a—" she breaks off, suddenly unsure of her question. She swallows nervously and fidgets from foot to foot. "Was it a, you know—I mean—was it though?" she finishes lamely, wincing at her own vague question. "I just—I felt like maybe it… could have been?"

"Oh," he says. But Ally can tell from his expression that he has caught on fast enough. "No, it wasn't," he says quietly, but in a firm enough voice that she knows he's not budging.

"Oh." Her voice sounds small and faraway, even to her own ears. Her mind registers somewhere that her cheeks are heating up with embarrassment but all she can really feel is the visceral disappointment his words have given her.

_Of course it wasn't_, she thinks bitterly. _You were just setting yourself up for heartbreak_.

"But tonight can be," he says gently as he regards her very, very carefully.

Her head shoots up and she looks at him, stunned and wide-eyed. "What?" she whispers, sounding a little breathless from shock.

Austin scratches the back of his head before launching into an explanation. "Look, I didn't want last night to be a date in case you weren't ready. Your break up with Daniel was still pretty fresh and I didn't want to add my name to your list of jerks." He looks at her, so softly and so hopefully, she feels her heart clench. "You deserve better than that."

She shakes her head, the beginnings of a smile starting to light up her face. "Oh, believe me, I am so ready to move on from Daniel. I was waiting for you to make a move all night."

Austin's eyebrows jump and Ally face palms.

"Oh my _God_," she squeaks, red-faced. "I didn't—that's not—I meant—" she looks around desperately as Austin tries to reign back his chuckles. Her hands flail uselessly in her embarrassment and she takes a deep breath to calm her nerves. "What I'm trying to say is… I was hoping last night was a date—especially after Daniel pretty much gave up and everything—but I couldn't exactly tell."

He suddenly smirks and leans in closer to her. "Oh, trust me. If you're on a date with Austin Moon, you'd be able to tell," he promises, his voice low and husky.

Her heart skips about a beat and a half beats and she nearly swallows her tongue. "Is that so?"

He laughs and says, "Ally, I explicitly said dinner for a reason. If I had wanted a date, I would have said date." He grins at her and adds, "So, would you like to go out with me on a date tonight?"

"Yes," she says, trying to contain at least some of her excitement. Her cheeks are hurting form the mile long beam on her face though, so she thinks the containment thing isn't really working.

"Good."

And then he leans down and kisses her. She starts in surprise, but relaxes when he brings up a hand to cup the side of her cheek. The kiss is gentle and slow, making it easy to melt into his touch, and her breath hitches as her eyes shutter closed.

All too soon, the kiss is over.

Her eyes flutter open and it takes her a second because she has to remind herself to just _breathe_ as she stares back at him quizzically. "Do you always kiss girls after they agree to a date?" she finally asks, albeit a little breathlessly.

He smirks and his thumb runs back and forth across her cheek. "Well, you said you were waiting for me to make a move last night and I figure I've kept you waiting long enough."

She lifts a hand to let her fingers ghost of her still tingling lips. "Totally worth the wait," she murmurs, looking up at him.

Austin grins and presses his forehead against hers. "Tonight just got a little bit better."

Ally bites her lip in anticipation. "This may be the best Monday _ever_," she whispers.

"I'm planning on it," he murmurs before leaning down to kiss her again.

Mondays. Who said they were the worst again?


End file.
